Shattered
by AthenaJanethePrettyLittleLiar
Summary: TWO-SHOT My take on Toby's injury of 2x17. Most likely not what happens, but it's fun to dream. Note: Changed to two-shot
1. Chapter 1

Spencer burst through the double doors of Rosewood Hospital, already out of breath and drenched in cold sweat. She braced her hands on her knees for a moment as she gasped for air and then continued to run to the front desk. Her parents had taken her car to the shop, but that hadn't stopped Spencer from getting to the hospital. She had run the full four miles across town to get there the second she received the call.

"I need to see someone. Right now." She gasped out the receptionists, leaning against the front of the desk.

"Who?" She asked, strictly professional with her no-nonsense brown bun and glasses on the tip of her nose.

"Cavanaugh. Toby Cavanaugh." Spencer replied.

"Are you family?"

"No, but – "

"Then I'm sorry, Miss, but you must leave. Visiting hours aren't available for the patient right now unless they are a family member or spouse."

"Then I'm his wife!" Spencer spat at her, her sarcasm dripping like venom. "Just let me see him! It's important that I do!"

"Miss, I will not allow this treatment at my hospital – " The receptionist started, but Spencer was already halfway down the hall. "Stop her!" She screamed as Spencer made a run for the hallway.

Two doctors who were lingering the halls were quick to answer the receptionist's call and clamped down on her arms from behind, pulling her backwards, dragging her tiny frame away.

"No! Just let me see him!" Spencer screamed, way past worrying about making a scene by then. She needed to see Toby.

The doctors held her down until she stopped struggling, surrendering with a sigh.

"At least tell me he's alright." Spencer whispered softly, tears burning in her eyes as the doctors cautiously let her go. She got to her feet and leaned against the receptionist's desk again.

"Well, he's stable." The woman responded, looking at her with a stern face, yet still supplying her with the words she needed to be kept sane. The block of ice that had clouded her chest suddenly melted, her fear washing away with those words. "But he was beat up pretty badly. The doctors are going through some tests and seeing what they can do."

"Alright." Spencer nodded. "Can I just wait here?" She asked.

The woman looked at her from over her glasses and sighed. "Fine. But don't try anything, young lady." She said, sounding most motherly.

Spencer nodded and began to round the corner towards the waiting room. Once she was out of the receptionist's sight and the woman was ruffling through papers again, she continued walking briskly through the hall, trying to keep quiet as she began to search for the rooms.

_Alexandra Iving. Jessica Dunbar. Owen Opal. _No. Spencer thought as she hurried down the hall, reading the names of each patient inside posted on the door. As she turned a corner, she ran smack into a body, knocking whatever they were holding to the ground.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I – " She started, but stopped when she looked up and registered who it was. "Wren." She said, her face impassively smooth.

"Spencer." Wren replied, "What are you doing here?" He asked as they both stooped to gather up the files that had fluttered to the floor. "You aren't supposed to be back here."

"I came here to see Toby. They wouldn't let me in so I just snuck back here." Spencer answered, handing him the rest of the pages. When they got to their feet, Spencer crossed her arms and stared at him straight in the eye. "Why didn't you tell me Toby was in here? I got the call from _Hanna_. Hanna, Wren. Hanna who spends less time in a hospital than I do in detention."

Wren cast his eyes downward. "I…Spencer, you have to understand."

"Well I don't." She responded, her tone blunt and harsh. "Not telling me about him being here was a _lie_, Wren."

"He isn't your boyfriend anymore." Wren said back, his voice sounding cynical for the first time. She had never heard him be so abrasive.

"What? You think I'd just forget about him? Stop caring about him? You don't forget your first love, Wren. You just don't."

Wren pursed his lips and Spencer felt like she had the upper hand once more. She spotted something out of the corner of her eye and gasped. "Oh my God."

_T. Cavanaugh_. The name was scrawled on the board beside the door of the room just a few feet behind Wren. She shoved against him, trying to get past. He easily blocked her. "No, Spencer. He isn't allowed to have any visitors!" Wren said, taking her by the shoulders and looking her dead in the eye. She broke free of his touch, as if it had burned her.

She shoved past him quickly, making a run for the door and grabbing the handle before Wren could stop her. She turned it and jumped inside, closing it quickly. She expected Wren to follow, to wrench the door open and drag her out, but the door remained as soundless as the air.

She sighed and turned into the room. Luckily, there weren't any other doctors floating inside.

There, on the hospital bed, propped up on the pillows, was the sleeping face of the only man she ever truly loved. His whole body was bandaged severely; a cut creased his left eyebrow, newly stitched shut by the doctors. She gasped as she stumbled towards the bed, as if everything was in slow motion and her legs were made out of jelly. She collapsed into the chair beside his bed and bit her lip as the tears came. She took him in, his fragile state, the sound of his heart monitor beeping consistently. She sighed as she reached out slowly and touched the side of his face – the side that was unmarked and not bruised. She ran her fingertips slowly over his soft skin, feeling the tears fall down her face.

A had done this. She had tried so hard to protect him by breaking things off with him – only hurting them both more – but A had still broken him. Shattered him, like the precious jewelry box Spencer had loved so much as a child that Ali had destroyed.

She clenched her eyes shut and put a hand over her mouth to keep from sobbing. Her phone beeped and she fished it out of her pocket with shaking hands.

"Congrats to me! I managed to break the two things that you loved most. – A"

She slammed her phone down so hard against the tile floor that the battery flipped out, but she didn't care. She bit her lip and let herself cry for a second before getting to her feet and kicking off her shoes. She carefully slipped onto the bed beside Toby, curling up into a ball next to his sleeping body. She cautiously leaned her head against his uninjured shoulder and pulled the covers over both of them, breathing in his soft, sweet scent and closing her eyes, just letting the moment soak in. She let her hand rest against his chest so gently, sighing as she felt his hear thud steadily beneath her palm.

"I love you." She whispered, even if he couldn't hear her. "And I want to be here when you wake up."


	2. Chapter 2

Spencer had first pondered dreams when studying Poe, way back when.

But she never had them. Her dreams were as black as her coffee in the mornings, numbing and foggy.

And for the first time in what felt like forever, Spencer dreamed. While curled up against Toby, all bruised and bandaged, she dreamed. She dreamed of every regret she ever had, and a few good things she had experienced. It was almost as if the ghost of Christmas – or, in this case, boyfriend's – past was leading her down memory lane.

As she slowly drifted into slumber against Toby's warmth, she saw everything she had done. How crazy it had all been. It was as if she were sitting in front of a tremendous TV screen, watching. Seeing. Remembering.

She saw all of the horrible things she had said, the painful words that had tumbled past her lips.

_"The devil has a name, and it's Toby." _The words echoed in her head, and she was almost sure that she flinched at the memory of their harshness.

Then, the picture melted into a lighter memory, in that one afternoon before the fateful night of the bell tower. She had attempted to throw herself into her studies, but Toby had known her better. He had known what was good for her. He always had her best interest in mind. He had led her over by the window and gently pulled her down next to him, folding her in his warm embrace. She had sighed and curled against him, falling into a peaceful sleep, not unlike the one she was in now. Whenever she was around Toby, she always felt like there was a sphere of sunlight encasing them, guarding them from the outside world. Pulling them deep into something real. Something beautiful. Something outside the realms of reality.

Something that Spencer later realized was called love.

She wished that she had realized that sooner. If she would have known how bad things were going to get, she would have clung to every moment that much tighter, breathed him in deeper, memorized him with acute accuracy, engraving him into her memory so that no matter how many miles she put between them, he would always be there.

That safe world she had once known ripped itself away from her as the scene shifted once more, and it was as if she had been hit with a bucket of ice water. She saw Toby, his adoring face beaming with pride as he pulled the sheet off of the beautiful rocking chair he had made for her, just for her. And what she had said…the memory burned as it coursed through her mind.

"_What I want you to do is forget about me!" _She had spat at him, along with a few other heinous things she wished she could take back but knew it was impossible.

The look on his face as he walked away, slammed his truck bed shut and drove off, leaving Spencer with nothing to do but drown herself in her own sadness, it was almost too much for Spencer. To swallow her bitterness and be exposed to the truth of what had just happened; what she had said.

Spencer could feel the soft warmth of her safe haven returning as the picture changed for the final time. She was in Toby's truck, in the driver's seat, driving it along the dirt road to Jason's house. She had been so extremely happy, and when she had gotten out of the car, she heard the sound of his voice and she knew that she must have been beaming like an idiot. Of course, at that moment, she hadn't minded.

_"I love you so much."_ He had said, the words meant just for her. And it was perfect; in it's own beautiful way.

There was something purely glorious of first love. It's something that is always held close to the heart, regardless of how many years go by or how far apart they are; it's there. Shining like sunlight, even through the arid winter, the icy chill that takes over everything. When the outside forces push in, it has the strength to push back, to maintain its ground.

And that's when Spencer realized: wasn't it enough? Even through her peaceful sleep, she could feel it, burning within her. This recognition shed light on all the confusion of the past few weeks.

_I love him_. She thought, her dream fading away until there was nothing but her thoughts clouding her head. _He's all I've ever wanted._

_I love him not._ There was no way she could be with him and still keep him safe from A.

_I love him. _She needed his warmth in her life. He keeps her balanced. Screw A. Isn't love all about taking risks? Not having a choice, but choosing them anyway?

_I love him._

_ I love him, I love him, I love him._

I need him. He is mine and I am his.

I love him.

Spencer woke with a slight jerk, the sound of the heart monitor bringing her back to reality. She sighed and stretched cautiously, careful not to hurt him. She wondered absentmindedly how long she had been out. No doctors had come in. None at all. It was just she and Toby, warm beneath the sheets. She sighed and tucked her head against his neck again, wanting to hold on tighter but afraid to cause more damage.

Her dream flooded her mind. All of it – it had all been so true. It was as if she were being led into the light, as if all of the shadowed, gray areas of her life were suddenly illuminated, in full Technicolor, and everything was so brilliantly clear. She was going to stick through this, if not for herself them for him. Toby, the guy she was crazy in love with. It was what had taken her so long to realize why she never felt like she belonged anymore.

It was because she didn't belong. Not to herself, anyway.

She belonged to him. She was all his, without a doubt. She was tethered to him, and even if she tried even harder to tear herself away, she knew it wouldn't be possible.

Suddenly, she felt the soft, even pace of Toby's breathing speed up. She pulled away, suddenly overcome with worry. She sat up on her elbow and –

His eyelashes softly fluttered, and his eyes opened, revealing their sapphire blue to her.

Spencer did her best to not burst into tears. She bit her lip, and her breathing ceased. A slow smile creased her face as a tear fell over her eyelashes and down her cheek. She was shocked, but yet somehow still fully aware of what was all happening.

Toby looked around, groaning gently at his aches and breaks. He looked toward her and blinked a few times.

"Spencer?"

"Shh, shh. I'm here. I'm here." She said calmingly, her voice barely audible. She softly touched his lips and smiled, allowing more tears to fall down her face.

He reached up with a gentle hand – his undamaged one, and softly wiped her tears away. He smiled, and it lit up her whole world. "I knew you would come."

"I always will. I promise." She whispered, and sunk into his warmth, desperately seeking their safe haven once more.

This time, Spencer planned to stay in that light for a long time.

"_At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.__" - Plato_

_ **Hey guys! So I actually turned this into a two-shot, but it's a strictly two-shot! I'll prob be making more one-shots and Spoby fluff and such for other stories, but I want the PLL writers to be in charge of playing this out ;)**_

_**Thanks so much for the comments! They mean a lot!**_

**_True Love Conquers All, _**

**_AJ_**


End file.
